Dr Nicos Rodosthenous 1

Business ProjectNicos Rodosthenous PhD

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Critically reviewing the literature

• 1. Introduction• Two major reasons exist for reviewing the

literature (Sharp and Howard, 1996)• 1) the preliminary search that helps you to

generate and refine your research ideas• 2) the critical review which is part of your

research project.• Project assessment criteria usually require you

to demonstrate awareness of your subject and14/10/2014

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Critically reviewing the literature

• how your research fits in its wider context (Gill & Johnson, 1997).

• In Jankowicz’s (2000:159) words: Your work and your findings will be significant only to the extent that they are the same as, of different from other people’s work and findings.

• 2. The critical review• 2.1 The purpose of the critical review

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• The critical literature review will form the foundation on which your research is built.

• You should not start your research without reading what other researchers have found.

• Your review also has a number of other purposes: To help you to refine further your research

questions and objectives To highlight new research findings that have been

overlooked

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To avoid simply repeating work that has been done already

To sample current opinions in newspapers, professional and trade journals

Your analysis is considered effective when new findings and theories will emerge that neither you nor anyone else has thought about (Strauss & Corbin, 1998)

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• 2.2 The content of the critical review• In writing your critical review you will need: To include the key academic theories To show that your knowledge is up to date To combine your research to previous research To assess the strengths and weaknesses of

previous work To justify your arguments with reference to

previous research

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To enable the readers of your project to find the original work through clear referencing.

2.3 What is meant by critical The term critical refers to the judgment you

exercise. 2.4 The structure of the critical review The literature review should be a description

and critical analysis of what other authors have written (Jankowicz, 2000)

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2.4.1 A structure of a critical review should : Start at a general level before narrowing down

to your specific questions and objectives Provide an overview of key ideas Summarise and compare the work of key

writers Provide a detailed account of the research

findings

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• 3. Literature sources available• The literature sources available can be divided

into 3 categories:• 1) Primary ( published and unpublished)• 2) Secondary ( books and journals)• 3) Tertiary (search tools )• 3.1 Secondary literature sources: • Journals: professional journals, trade journals,

academic journals14/10/2014

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• Books: sometimes may contain out-of-date material . Some academic textbooks, are now supported by web pages providing additional information.

• Newspapers: produce special reports, like Financial Times. They have also web sites or on line in most universities libraries. May contain bias, political or personal coverage.

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• 3.2 Primary literature sources:• Reports: include market reports, government

and academic reports. Individual academics publish their reports and research on the Internet.

• Conference proceedings: referred to as symposia, and are published in journals or as books. Many conferences have web pages providing abstracts and the full papers of the conference.

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• Theses: are unique for major research projects and can be a good source of detailed information; will also be a good source of further references.

• 4. Planning the literature search• Planning enables you to ensure and to locate

relevant and up-to-date literature.• Will also enable you to establish what research

has been previously published in your area and to relate your own research to it.

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• Students found their literature search a time-consuming process.

• Time spent for planning will be repaid in time saved when searching the literature.

Before start your literature search it is better to:

Define the parameters of your search; Generate key words and search terms; Discuss your ideas as widely as possible.14/10/2014

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• 4.1 Defining parameters: Language of publication (e.g. English) Subject area (e.g. tourism) Georgaphical area (e.g.Europe) Publication period (e.g. the last 10 years) Literature type (e.g. journals and books) Worked example: Simon’s research question.

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• 4.2 Generating key words: The identification of key words or research

terms is the most important part of planning your search for relevant literature.

Those found most useful by the students include:

Discussion with colleagues, your project tutor and librarians

Initial reading14/10/2014

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Dictionaries, handbooks, internet Brainstorming-discussion (feedback) Worked example: “Management requirements

of a school pupil record administration system” : schools, pupil, records, administration, user requirements, computer, management information system, access, legislation, information, database, security.

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• 5. Conducting the literature search Searching by using tertiary literature sources Obtaining relevant literature from books and

journals articles Scanning and browsing secondary literature in

your library Searching by using the Internet

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• 5.1 Tertiary literature sources• Most of these publications are called indexes

and abstracts, and can be accessible via the Internet or held by your university library.

• Most index searches will find articles by using key words, including the author’s name.

• The abstract includes also a summary of the article.

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Indexes and abstracts are produced in printed and electronic formats, as databases.

Searching printed sources and databases is normally free.

On-line databases provide a wealth of information.

With the development of the Internet many databases can be accessed using the technology.

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• Some examples: British National Bibliography (BNB) since 1950, Global Books in Print (internet) books from the most of the world.

• 5.2 Searching using tertiary literature• Printed sources: databases can normally be

searched by author or by one subject heading• Databases: key words need to match the

database’s controlled index language of terms and phrases or descriptors.

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• 5.3 Scanning and browsing • To make browsing and scanning easier you should:• Identify those journals that are the most relevant• Browse new book displays in libraries• Scan new book reviews in journals and newspapers• Discuss your research with your tutor and

librarians

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• Professional journals can be accessible on the web pages of professional organizations.

• Web sites of bookshops such as Amazon, Blackwell and the Internet Book Shop provide access to catalogues of books.( by author, title and subject) Amazon.com:

• 5.4 Searching the Internet• The internet is a worldwide network that

provides access to a vast range of literature14/10/2014

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• and other resources around the world.• Home pages:• Address of Internet sites or home pages Oxford Brookes University can be the quickest and most direct method of accessing these resources.

• Search tools: • Often referred to as search engines and are the

most important method of Internet searching for your literature review. e.g Google, Yahoo.

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• Bookmarking• Once you have found a useful Internet site, you

need to address electronically. This process is termed bookmarking or add to favorites.

• 6. Obtaining and evaluating the literature• 6.1 Obtaining the literature: to do this you

need:• 1. To check your library catalogue that the

appropriate publication is there.14/10/2014

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• 2. Locate the publication and scan it• 3. Browse other books and journals• 4. Use inter-library loan for those items that

are not held by your library.• 6.2 Evaluating the literature • Two important questions are: 1) How do I

know what I’m reading is relevant? 2) How do I know when I’ve read enough?

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• 7. Recording the literature• The process of note making will help you in

the literature in relation to your research. There are also another 3 sets of information:

Bibliographic details Brief summary of content Supplementary information Three of the most common styles are: the

Harvard system, the American Psychological14/10/2014

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• Association (APA) System, and the Vancouver or footnotes system.

• Some examples: • 1)Journal: Douglas.N. (2001), Special Interest

Tourism, National Library of Austrtalia, 5,1,p12• 2)Book: Saunders M., Lewis P., (1997), Research

Methods for Business Students, Third edition 2003, England, Pearson Education Ltd.

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